NOVEL NEXT Chapter 98
As we marveled at the fallen dragon, there was no time to be surprised—we immediately prepared to bind it up. The original plan was to rescue the Boss and escape City D, but since the most dangerous being, the dragon, had been subdued so easily, there was no reason to flee the city anymore.
I quickly called Arima, who was flying around City D on Falcon, and asked her to reduce the dragon’s body. However, Arima had even better ideas, turning the dragon into a little boy instead.
“Arima?”
“Ta-da! Now it won’t be able to struggle easily, and by messing with its brain structure, it won’t be able to think complicated thoughts. Just look at this perfectly sculpted body—it’s going to get all excited and rush in like a randy dog.”
“Arima??”
I was confused about what was happening, but Arima explained she had weakened the dragon just enough to maintain its sense of self. It’s incredibly difficult to make a dragon, smarter than any human, just small or turn it into a dumb lizard.
She said she was doing her best to prevent its natural instincts and subconscious from transforming. Even if it did change, it would still try to break the magic, so keeping its self-awareness in a gray area would make it easier to control.
Being a novice with Polymorph Magic, I couldn’t easily accept Arima’s words, but she was the expert in the field, so I decided to just go with it. I also didn’t want to think too much about her possibly having ulterior motives in creating a cute little boy.
“Steel Titan, Binding Mode.”
[Understood! Master!]
After transforming the dragon into a boy, I used the Steel Titan to wrap him up tightly. It was designed specifically for subduing villains, so it had excellent binding capabilities.
By the time we finished binding him up, Galm and Levitan were seen returning with the Boss in the distance. The Boss, with a little dust on her dress, walked over with an utterly unfazed expression, despite being taken prisoner.
I immediately approached the Boss and knelt on one knee to greet her.
“—Boss, as you commanded, all the executives of the Evil Organization—except for 1, 2, and 6—rushed here to rescue you.”
“Hmm—good job.”
“I have captured the audacious one who dared to lay hands on you. Please come this way.”
After dramatically greeting the Boss, I brought over a chair that looked perfect for sitting amidst the crumbled ruins and placed her on it. The dusty chair, once regarded as mere debris, now resembled a throne fit for royalty.
Among the half-collapsed city ruins, with this chair and the executive members standing around, the Boss held one knee in her lap, exuding the Majesty of Kings.
Before the figure who radiated royal dignity even in a ruin, a guilty sinner finally opened his eyes. Trapped in the body of a human boy like a monkey pinned under a rock, the dragon faced his punishment.
* * *
“—Are you awake?”
Upon opening his eyes, Hisberk realized he was transformed into a human and bound by some object. He tried to dispel it with magic, but for some reason, his magic wouldn’t budge.
Struggling to make sense of his foggy mind, Hisberk recalled that there was a human magician among them, someone whose skills were sufficient to dispel his magic.
“……How humiliating. How could I be defeated by such a lowly human?”
“Since ancient times, being complacent has been the root of all misfortunes. Hisberk, the reason you’ve lost is that.”
“Ha—surely a giant would not fall to an ant…!”
“But if that ant were a super ant capable of taking down even an elephant?”
While engaging in a verbal spat with Regalia, Hisberk felt a level of nagging disappointment that was downright unfair. Where had his brilliant mind that scrutinized the world gone? Whenever he tried to think or speak, his words stumbled. He could clearly tell that he hadn’t just been turned into a human.
Even more humiliating than becoming stupid was the overwhelming surge of sexual desire he felt. Regalia, in her dress with one leg draped over the other, made his heart race every time he caught a glimpse of her thighs. The base primal desires of an inferior being were thrumming within him.
No matter how much he had been transformed into a mere human, feeling lust for an inferiority was incredibly shameful. It was akin to a human feeling a sexual urge towards a cockroach or an earthworm…!
“Now, Hisberk. Proud dragon. Confess your sins to me.”
“Ugh, ughhh…!”
The Majesty of Kings pressed down on Hisberk. If he had been in his original state, in other words, as a dragon or in his own form at the time of the Polymorph, he would have easily dismissed the ability to impose such pressure.
However, having become a foolish and childish boy, he could not resist the overwhelming pressure now.
“I was… lonely…”
“Hmm—?”
“For hundreds of years, I was alone… When I finally thought I saw a fellow kin, I was so excited…”
What Hisberk was saying was this: He had fallen to this world centuries ago and had been searching for his kin or at least someone born in the same world for many long years.
Unfortunately, he had found no one other than one single individual. Even that one person had been something like a slave to him in the world he originally resided in, so he could never resolve his longing for home.
“I thought Evilus had created Yongabyeong, and I would finally meet a kin after so long… but when I checked their memories, it turned out to be some strange human instead…”
At his ridiculous words, Regalia and most of the executives shut their mouths. Eight did the same.
The dragons he knew lived for tens of thousands of years, and if given the chance, they would gladly hide for hundreds or even thousands of years, embodying the essence of individualism. Just because they lived alone didn’t mean they would feel intimidated or weak.
However, what Eight didn’t know was that the characteristics of the dragons he was familiar with were merely the stuff of fiction, and even if those settings happened to reflect some actual dragons’ traits, falling alone into an entirely different world was a different concept altogether.
Just because a hermit doesn’t go outside doesn’t mean they would be okay if dropped on a deserted island. Even if that deserted island had internet access.
“…I miss my friends.”
Hisberk longed to meet his kin.
Eight leaned closer to Arima and whispered.
“Arima, is that dragon from your world?”
“Hmm—I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem like it…”
“Can you tell?”
“Of course! The magic they use is slightly different, and if there were dragons just a few hundred years ago, they would’ve likely been wiped out.”
With the realization that this dragon was not from Ardenia, Eight silently waited for the Boss’s decision.
Regalia, who had been silent after hearing Hisberk, briefly closed her eyes in thought. After a moment of contemplation, the King delivered her verdict.
“—Scientist.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Can we send this one back to his homeland?”
“I think it would be difficult.”
“Then could we make friends for him?”
At Regalia’s words, Hisberk’s eyes lit up as if asking what that meant. Then he looked at Eight with hopeful eyes. The scientist hesitated for a moment, clearing his throat. Once the anticipation had fully risen, he quietly spoke.
“—That would be entirely possible.”
He could create a dragon.
He could give him new friends.
Upon hearing that, Hisberk was stunned, while Regalia smiled down at him.
“Proud dragon, I propose this to you.”
“…Uh, um—.”
“I will overlook what you did to me. I will grant you the chance to meet the kin you desired so much.”
The King was generous.
She forgave the beast that had dared to bare its fangs at her.
“—Offer everything you have to me.”
However, the beast had to shed its own skin and present it to the King.
The dragon readily did so.
* * *
“Uh…?”
“Oh, oh, ohhh…!”
Following Regalia’s orders, I created another dragon using Hisberk’s genes. Creating a creature of the same species from just genetic material was incredibly challenging.
Creating a being of the same species was akin to taking Adam’s rib and making Eve, a genuinely mythic feat one might read about in the Bible. Since I had never seen another dragon besides Hisberk, it was even more difficult.
But what I found hard indicates that it is possible, and like most scientists, I succeeded by thoroughly grinding myself to pieces.
Whether the new dragon was truly dragon-like or not would rely on Hisberk’s reaction.
“Really, please take good care of it. With the hope that one day this world will be filled with my kin…”
Hisberk said, returning to his nest, or in other words, City D. Arima, watching his retreating figure, made a slightly disgusted face.
“Ugh…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing—he just said he’d raise it to increase his kin count, right?”
“Yeah, he did.”
“That means he just mentioned raising a newborn baby, right? Total pedo….”
For a moment, Arima’s candid words made me frown, but then I realized she was absolutely right. Regardless of how the dragon race viewed love, at a glance, Hisberk had said he wanted to mate with a barely born kid.
Thus concluded the latest chapter.